Bartholomew's Notes

Is a 33 year-old “The End is Nigh” Biblical prophecy paperback a bit of an embarrassment? Not if you’re the son of John F. Walvoord. The CBA/Aspiring Retail Industry Brief reports (via email):

Tyndale House Publishers is mounting a $300,000 marketing campaign to draw people into CBA stores and jump start sales on its May release of Armageddon, Oil, and Terror by John Walvoord. This is the revised, third edition of Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis that’s sold more than 2 million copies and been translated into 10 languages. Tyndale will initiate national print, radio, and Internet campaigns for the title, which has been retitled to reflect the current world situation and is the collaboration of Walvoord’s son, John E. Walvoord and author Mark Hitchcock. It offers new insight into what to expect in this age of terror.

The “new insight” being, of course, that “this age of terror” means the end is nigh, just as “that age of Middle East crisis” in 1974 was a sign of the Last Days back then.

As the report indicates, the Walvoords have cashed in in this way before; back in 1990 Walvoord Senior churned out a second edition which preyed on fears about the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Time reported then that

Zondervan, a leading U.S. publisher of Fundamentalist and Evangelical literature, has issued an updated version of John F. Walvoord’s 1974 best seller, Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis, with an initial print order of — get this — 1 million copies.

One wonders why Zondervan has passed the book over to Tim LaHaye’s publisher of choice. Perhaps Tyndale offered Walvoord a better deal; or perhaps Zondervan, these days better-known for publishing thoughtful evangelicals like Philip Yancey, finds the thought of seriously revisiting the 1970s pulp prophecy schlock that it was once so famous for simply too distasteful.

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Particularly horrible news from Pakistan, via the BBC:

A senior health official has been killed and three guards injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials say.

The dead man, Abdul Ghani Khan, played a key role in a polio immunisation drive in the Bajaur tribal region.

…It is not clear if he was targeted because of his work to eradicate polio in the area.

Khan’s murder comes weeks after a cleric in Darra Adam Khel issued a fatwa calling for the killing of NGO workers. The South Asia Citizens Wire distributed a press release from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on the subject:

…The edict labels international organizations, including those falling under the UN umbrella and the International Red Cross, as well as local NGOs working for human rights, as agents of the Jews and the West.

…What is far more disturbing than the threats themselves is the failure of authorities to prosecute those responsible for making them. The latest Fatwa’, like many others distributed previously, is not anonymous. Its author has affixed to it his name and qualifications. The Fatwa’ has also been pasted up as posters across the Darra Adam Khel area. Therefore, the authorities cannot claim they are unable to trace the source of incitement to hatred and murder. Pretending ignorance of those guilty of preaching violence amounts to collusion.

The cleric was a certain Mufti Khalid Shah. The Guardian reported on the anti-vaccine phenomenon just a few days ago:

…The parents of 24,000 children in northern Pakistan refused to allow health workers to administer polio vaccinations last month, mostly due to rumours that the harmless vaccine was an American plot to sterilise innocent Muslim children.

…The scaremongering and appeals to Islam echoed a similar campaign in the Nigerian state of Kano in 2003, where the disease then spread to 12 polio-free countries over the following 18 months. Pakistan is one of just four countries where polio remains endemic. The others are Nigeria, India and Afghanistan.

As I blogged at the time (see my entries here, here, and here), the Kano tragedy was the fault of Kano governor Ibrahim Shekarau and Lagos State University Professor Hussain Abdulkareem. Both men deliberately distorted scientific findings in order to spread hysteria against the vaccine, with the result that polio spread far and wide before an alternative Muslim-sourced vaccine was acquired from Indonesia. Although he named no names, President Obasanjo suggested that someone had manipulated the situation for profit, and told the press that one of those most opposed to the western-sourced vaccine had previously failed to win a government contract to import it.

A few weeks ago, Channel 4 aired a documentary in the UK on Islamic extremism which included extracts from a DVD featuring Sheik Khalid Yasin. According to Yasin,

…Missionaries from the World Health Organisation and Christian groups went into Africa and inoculated people for diphtheria, malaria, yellow fever and they put in the medicine the Aids virus, which is a conspiracy.

In Nigeria and Pakistan, the conspiracy theory is that the vaccine contains estrogen or estriadoil, and that this will lead to genital deformity and male infertility. In Pakistan, as well as the wretched Mufti Khalid Shah, the notion has been spread by a radio host named Maulana Fazlullah. The BBC reported on him just a few months ago:

Amirullah Khan, a resident of NWFP’s Swat district, quoted Maulana Fazlullah of a local FM channel as telling his listeners the vaccination drive was “a conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to stunt the population growth of Muslims”.

Maulana Fazlullah confirmed this to BBC, saying if the international organisations were keen on improving the health of the Muslims, they should help the hepatitis-C patients in the area.

The vaccine was also the subject of a petition in Peshawar in July 2006:

…in a move that has fuelled the rumours circulating in some communities, the High Court began hearing a petition filed by Ghulam Nabi, a Peshawar resident.

The petition called for the US $167 million polio eradication programme to be stopped, claiming that the vaccine contained high levels of the hormone estrogen, which can affect human reproduction. The court has sought responses from the government and the WHO, which has denied the claim.

The panic has also spread to India, as I blogged here, although in that country Islamic schools have been mobilized in favour of the vaccine.

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The saga of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem rumbles on; Haaretz reports:

Israel is demanding that the Greek Orthodox patriarchy conduct a census of all church property in Israel and the Palestinian territories ahead of its sale or long-term lease, and to give Israel the first right of refusal on the property. Israel is also asking that the property purchased by Jewish organizations in the area of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate will “remain in the hands of the Israeli lessees,”

…Sources close to [Patriarch] Theophilos said his attorneys were told that the acceptance of the clauses in the document were a condition to Israel’s recognizing him as patriarch.

The property at Jaffa Gate had been leased to a Jewish settler group as part of a plan to increase Israeli hegemony over Palestinian parts of the city; the above would appear to confirm suspicions that the group was doing the bidding of the Israeli government.

The sale had been made during the watch of Patriarch Irineos, much to the displeasure and embarrassment of Greek Orthodox Palestinians. Irineos blamed his financial advisor, Nicholas Papadimas, for the sale; Papadimas’ subsequent disappearance is just one of several murky elements to the story – Irineos’ 2001 election was said to have been arranged with the help of a Greek drug dealer, and a rival bishop who wanted the patriarchal job for himself is alleged to have tried to arrange a hit-man to create a vacancy. I blogged on all this here.

Irineos was deposed two years ago, but, remarkably, he’s still soldiering on:

Irineos also said his dismissal by the Synod is illegal and that he wants the government to continue recognizing him as patriarch.

Israel has continued to back Irineos, despite the fact that it tried to block his election in 2001, and despite Irineos’ tendency to refer to Jews as “the descendants of the crucifiers of our Lord”.

(Hat tip: Christianity Today Weblog)

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Rep Warren Chisum apologizes, admits didn’t read material; no word from Rep Ben Bridges

From the Dallas Morning News:

AUSTIN – House Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum said Wednesday that he’s “willing to apologize” for giving colleagues a document that contains what the Anti-Defamation League called “outrageous anti-Semitic material.”

“The stuff that causes conflicts between religious beliefs, you know, I’d never be a party to that,” Mr. Chisum said. “I’m willing to apologize if I’ve offended anyone.”

Chisum had distributed a memo from Georgia Rep Ben Bridges which claimed that evolution was a conspiracy perpetrated by Jewish scientists influenced by kabbala and “the Pharisee religion” in order to undermine Christianity. Bridges referred readers to a website for further information:

Mr. Chisum said he hadn’t looked at the Web site and didn’t realize that he was distributing that type of material. He expressed chagrin that he didn’t vet the material more carefully.

No word yet from Bridges, who has been battling evolution for several years on the grounds that it is a theory, rather than a “fact”.

But what of the website being championed by Bridges? It’s called Fixedearth.com, and is run by the “Fair Education Foundation, Inc”:

All of the evidence that is required to expose and destroy the counterfeit Copernican Model of a rotating and orbiting Earth–and the entire evolutionary paradigm resting upon that counterfeit–is set out in this book (HERE)  & in scores of links on this web page.

Those who read some or all of these links will quickly realize that this is no idle claim. Rather–as will become evident with each subject listed–there is abundant hard proof that both the Copernican Counterfeit and the Big Bang Evolutionary Paradigm that is built upon it are factless frauds from start to finish.

Further:

…The root definition of “science” is scire: to know.  None of the components that make up the “science” of Pharisaic evolutionism is known to be true, and each component is, therefore, not “Science” by definition anymore than it is “Secular” by definition.

…Why was Kabbalist physicist Albert Einstein voted Time Magazine’s “Man of the 20th Century”?

The president of the foundation is Marshall Hall, an obscure figure who is apparently a retired high school teacher.

Meanwhile, Chisum’s admission that he’s either too stupid or too lazy not to notice whether he’s endorsing crackpot anti-semitic conspiracy theories or not risks casting a shadow over his most famous achievement, as immortalised in a famous piece by the late Molly Ivins:

…The Texas Senate had a rare moment of courage early in the [1993] session when it voted to remove homosexual sodomy from the revised version of the penal code. All were astonished.

Their vision made its way over to the House, where Chisum promptly rose and introduced an amendment to reinstate the damn thing. The Housies were afraid everyone would think they were queer if they didn’t vote for Chisum’s amendment, so they did.

Then some scholar explained to Chisum that unless he reinstated the ban on heterosexual sodomy as well, the law would be declared unconstitutional. So Chisum promptly got up and did just that.

Whereupon we had one of the more bizarre debates in the history of the Lege, with assorted avant garde members rising at the back mike to say, approximately, “Uh, Warren, uh, suppose I am in bed with my lawfully wedded spouse and I, like, kind of misaim and wind up in the wrong hole. You don’t want to send me to prison for that, do you?”

Chisum would stoutly reply, “Yes, I do. It’s against nature and The Bible.”…

A slightly different version of the story appears here.

UPDATE: From the AP:

…Bridges has denied writing the dispatch, although one of his closest political allies, Marshall Hall, said the legislator gave him the approval to draft the memo.

Hall, a 76-year-old former high school teacher whose wife ran Bridges’ election campaign, said that neither the site or the memo is anti-Semitic. “I think they tar people with that brush a little too readily,” he said…

(Hat tip: Pharyngula)

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The Ugandan Kampala Monitor reports:

It is exactly one week since the historic unveiling of the Shs40 million shilling [=about $23,000 – RB] statue at Kabamba military barracks.

It depicts a youthful Popular Resistance Army (PRA) guerrilla leader; Yoweri Museveni directing the attack on the armoury at the beginning of the five year ‘bush war’ between 1981 and 1986 against the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) government of the late Dr Apollo Milton Obote.

The Monitor’s astute commentator Nicholas Sengoba is unimpressed:

…Africa’s issue with statues says a lot about the vicious cycle of our politics. Politics, because on the continent contributions from other spheres of society for instance medicine and education go unnoticed and are rarely rewarded with anything.

…The typical African leader usually starts off on a high note being liberal and reforming as much as possible to sell himself as being different and more enlightened than the usual autocratic gunmen that have graced African politics. His good intentions are perpetually overpowered by human weaknesses.

…He begins to look at the great events (that endeared him to the people) in the past, with nostalgia to draw some inspiration and procure relevance in the sceptical minds of those he leads.

Museveni, a close ally of the White House, has been in power now for 21 years, having scrapped term limits prior to a controversial re-election last May (which came in the wake of a crack-down on journalists). Museveni and his wife also enjoy strong support from US evangelicals, and just a few days ago the president received an endorsement from faith-healing evangelist Morris Cerullo:

CHRISTIANS had their faith reawakened when Dr. Morris Cerullo visited Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral on February for the Fresh Fire for Jesus rally. The American Evangelist took to the pulpit with a vigour that belied his 75 years of age.

…In the congregation were several cabinet ministers, over 20 MPs, business moguls and the Queen Mother of Toro, Best Kemigisa.

After the church meeting, Cerullo also called on President Yoweri Museveni at State House, Nakasero. Accompanied by Kayanja and Peter Sematimba, Cerullo thanked the President for the impressive performance of his government in the last 20 years. He was particularly impressed by the freedom of worship that has resulted in a great number of born-again Christians.

“You are the right man in the right country at the right time and God has blessed your leadership,” Cerullo told Museveni.

Cerullo was hosted by pastor Robert Kayanja, whom I blogged on here.

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Dennis Prager pontificates on WorldNetDaily:

The trivialization of the Holocaust

In her last column, Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman wrote: “Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers. …”

…Just imagine if, for example, an equally prominent Christian figure had written that denying America is a Christian country is on a par with denying the Holocaust. It would have been front-page news in the mainstream media, the individual would have been excoriated by just about every major liberal individual and group, and the ADL would have cited this as an example of burgeoning Christian anti-Semitism and Holocaust trivialization…

Meanwhile, another page on WND offers us this:

Stunning documentary links Darwin, Hitler
Holocaust was fallout of evolution theory, says production

…Ann Coulter, bestselling author of “Godless: The Church of Liberalism,” a WorldNetDaily columnist and featured speaker at WND’s upcoming NewsExpo2007 event, said Hitler was simply taking Darwinism from the theoretical to the practical…

The documentary has been puffed on WND for several months; I blogged on it here. At the time, WND illustrated the story with the following picture and caption; it reappears in the new puff-piece for the “documentary”, but with a question-mark added.

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HQ for “the rest of Asia and Africa”

From the Kigali New Times:

President Paul Kagame yesterday held talks with the founder of Family Christian Network (FCN) Decarol Williamson, who promised to build a US$20m Television and radio network in Rwanda. Speaking to the press shortly after the meeting, Williamson’s personal assistant Joshi Uruashi said that Williamson reiterated his willingness to build a modern television to be set up in Gacuriro, Gasabo District that would serve as headquarters to the rest of Africa and Asia.

…Family Christian Network, whose headquarters are in Costa Rica, Central America has over the years reached out [to] ten million people.

FCN is a ministry of Fore Christ, which Williamson founded after a religious experience in 1974. Its website explains:

In August of 1974, Dr. DeCarol Williamson was thrown to the floor by the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. He was instantly delivered and healed from both alcohol and drug addiction. While on the floor he received a Vision from God.

The vision was “to build A Global Army Fore Christ”:

…Williamson believes that like in the day of Pentecost when the church was in one place with one mind and in one accord there will once again come a fresh baptism of power.

Following the example of Paul and Barnabas who made tents to support themselves in ministry, Dr. Williamson founded many companies with the blessing of the Lord and is using these companies to fund the majority of the ministry’s activities so that the ministry would depend on God and not man. God is leading others now around the world to support the army “Fore Christ” to help facilitate this last day revival of God and meet the needs of the poor and suffering.

In fact, Williamson has his own corporate website, where we learn that DeCarol Williamson Enterprises (based in Wilmington, North Carolina) consists of more than fifty companies, ranging from construction through to horse breeding and golf – in fact, his golf package holiday service is named “Fore Travel“, echoing his “Fore Christ” religious venture. FCN has had an interest in Rwanda since 2005, as these rather dull legal documents show.

Details about Williamson are scarce, although he is described as a Vietnam veteran and a USA International Director of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. His full name is Odell DeCarol Williamson Jr, and he is obviously named for Odell Williamson (most likely he’s a grandson), who developed the Ocean Isle Beach area of North Carolina after returning from World War II. There is now a Odell Williamson Auditorium and Odell Williamson Municipal Airport, but the name is not without controversy: in 2004 a local weekly named the Indy made mention of

…one [of] North Carolina’s most prominent developers, Brunswick County land tycoon Odell Williamson…[who] was indicted in June 1999 on charges of using his position on the N.C. Board of Transportation to direct public road projects to benefit his private developments. (A judge ruled in December 1999 Williamson was medically unfit to stand trial, ending the case.)

The website of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission has the detail that someone named Odell DeCarol Williamson of Ocean Isle Beach (one assumes another relative of the evangelist) had had his broker license suspended in 1996 for “drug related offenses”.

A 1999 news report from Nicaragua has a short profile of DeCarol Williamson and his mission:

El Ministerio Para-Cristo, Inc., es un organismo que se define sin inclinación denominacional, es decir, no se identifica con bautistas, pentecostales, Asambleas de Dios o cualquier otra organización. Tampoco es nacionalista ni étnico.

However, although his ministry is not related to any particular organisation, he is not apolitical at home: records (e.g. here and here) show various donations made by his wife Jan through DeCarol Williamson Enterprises to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

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From Ecumenical News International:

A member of the family of the excommunicated former Zambian Catholic archbishop, Emmanuel Milingo, has said the cleric may be held against his will in seclusion near Lusaka by the Unification Church.

The accusation is made by Tomaida Milingo, niece of the former Catholic archbishop who is now close to Rev Moon. Tomaida accuses Emmanuel Milingo’s wife, Maria Sung, of “making contradictory statements about the whereabouts of the former archbishop”, who was reportedly recently in Seoul to study Moon’s teachings; I noted that a few days ago in an entry for Talk to Action. Tomaida wants the authorities to intervene:

“I’m appealing on behalf of the Milingo family to nations of goodwill through their embassies and missions accredited to Zambia not to process applications for visa purportedly made by Archbishop Milingo or Maria Sung’s organization…We believe that the archbishop is not in a condition to decide on matters concerning his life…The last time I spoke to him was on 26 December when he was leaving the US for Zambia. He told me he would be in Zambia on 10 January, but he is nowhere to be seen.”

The Unification Church, however, rejects the claim:

The leader of the Unification Church in Zambia, Adamson Musonda said: “We feel it is unfair for the family of Archbishop Milingo to alarm the nation by saying that mystery surrounds his whereabouts.”

The Church has been active in Zambia for a while; Moon’s wife visited the country last year, and was met by various dignitaries:

…former President Kenneth Kaunda, a key founding father of modern, post-colonial Africa, and former Vice President Zulu, and former PM Gen. Malimba Masheke, and others.

The Church’s Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace organisation held a ceremony in Lusaka in 2004:

The former Second Lady of the First Republic of Zambia, Mrs. Edna Kamanga gave the opening speech. Later, the video “The Crown of Peace” was shown, followed by a lecture given by Rev. Faerber on power-point about family value and the blessing of marriage.

The Guests were invited to participate in the holy wine ceremony lead by representative couple, Dr. L.F. Chipatanga and wife.

Thirteen new Ambassadors for Peace were appointed, including one Indian and two Chinese nationals.

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A recent issue of Christian Retailing carries an article (22 Jan, p. 10) on the Left Behind: Eternal Forces videogame. As the piece notes, the game has come under attack from various groups (Christian and secular) for allegedly featuring

…teens…killing nonbelievers, teaching teens that most musicians are “singing the praises of the Antichrist” and portraying non-Christian humanitarian aid workers as part of enemy forces.

Jeff Frichner, the president of Left Behind Games, responds to the criticisms:

…Frichner questioned how it could remain true to the Bible and the novels if it omitted the violence that appears in both.

The LBG president said too few youth are taught to defend themselves–not physically, but in verbal confrontations with those who question the validity of their faith.

So how is LB:EF teaching Christians the arts of verbal defence? Frichner explains:

…”You can win the game by not firing a shot, but by conducting spiritual warfare. There’s a prayer button (and) a worship button…”

I look forward to the “Oxford Debating Society” videogame, in which players will defeat opponents by use of a “rebuttal” button.

LBG is also trying to win over critics by spamming blogs that discuss the game. Since I’ve mentioned it a few times on this blog (see here and here), I’ve received several of these. “GamerZ@leftbehindgames.com” asks me:

Hey, with so many people having an opinion about this game, how many have actually played it? And what credibility do they have? Focus on the Family has publications which can set the record straight for everyone…

A link is given to here. “Sandi@leftbehindgames.com” tells me that:

There has been alot of misleading information spun throughout the public and media regarding Left Behind Eternal Forces game. I encourage you to visit www.menofgod.us & download a trial version. I believe the first hand experience will allow you the opportunity to judge for yourself and put these rumors to a rest.

A long statement from LBG CEO Troy Lyndon follows, which includes the following disingenuous distinction:

…Our game does NOT teach the pre-tribulation theology of the book series, except that this worldview is utilized as a FICTIONAL backdrop of the game…

Is the Bible in general a “FICTIONAL backdrop”, then?

Meanwhile, Tim LaHaye is feeling no reason to be modest as he speaks to Christian Retailing journo Ken Walker:

“We are fishing for a younger generation to know who Jesus is, what He did and how they can receive Him…That is why we included a mass-market paperback of the Left Behind book in the final packaging. I do not know of a book that has led so many thousands to Christ.”

That’s put C.S. Lewis in his place. LaHaye rejects as “preposterous” the claim that the game encourages killing enemies:

“The whole point of our lives and ministries is that we love all such people…our goal is to persuade them, not hate or do harm to them in any way.”

Indeed not. That will be Jesus’ job, as described in the final Left Behind novel, Glorious Appearing. And horses won’t be let off lightly, either:

Men and women soldiers and horses seemed to explode where they stood…It was as if the very words of the Lord had superheated their blood, causing it to burst through their veins and skin…Even as they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted and their tongues disintegrated.

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OneNewsNow (formerly Agape) reports that Concerned Women for America is warning of “a ‘frightening’ development” in Israel. But it’s nothing to do with tension with Iran, or oppressive policies against the Palestinians:

An official with Concerned Women for America official is disturbed by the news that, for the first time in history, the Holy City of Jerusalem has recorded and officially recognized the “marriage” of a homosexual couple.

In November, Israel’s highest court ruled that same-sex “marriages” that were legally performed in other countries will be now included in Israel’s records.

…”For them to be recognizing so-called gay marriage officially in the Promised Land, the Holy Land, I think is just frightening, really,” he says, “and it’s just a step away from breaking out the golden calf.”

A while ago I came across a Christian Zionist pamphlet that compared gay Israelis to the pigs that were used by Syrian ruler Antiochus IV to defile the Jewish temple in the second century BCE. Of course, it’s always a shock when Christian Zionists discover that Israel is place that contains ordinary people – which is why they prefer the fantasy of the “Holy City of Jerusalem” rather than the reality of a town that contains (in both Israeli and Palestinian areas) a decent number of bars and nightclubs, and where people work in offices and go to the cinema (I lived there a few years ago, so I know).

The CWA spokesman, Matt Barber, adds:

…Israel’s acceptance of same-sex marriage will give ammunition to its Islamic enemies and fuel their propaganda. “It does provide them fodder — there’s no doubt about that,” he asserts. “They can now turn around and say, ‘Look; like we’ve been saying all along, Israel is the great infidel. They’re the heathen. Just look at what they’re doing now. They’re now recognizing gay marriage.'”

Whereas Barber’s view is that Israel is just great, but that the actual Israelis are letting the side down…

A few months ago, I noted the opinion of Christian Zionist author Christine Darg that the Israel-Lebanon conflict was the result of God answering prayers against the Jerusalem gay pride march.

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